Churchill China : Finalists revealed for the National Chef of the Year 2020

The 10 talented finalists are:

1. Marc Billings, sous chef at Prestwold Hall (Winner Heat 1)

2. Fraser Bruce, head chef at the Halestown Inn (Winner Heat 2)

3. Mehdi Lahmadi, junior sous chef at Coworth Park Hotel (Winner Heat 3)

4. Steve Groves, head chef from Roux at Parliament Square (Winner Heat 4)

The final six places were awarded to the highest scores across the four heats and they were:

5. Nick Edgar, head chef at The Ryebeck Hotel

6. Derek Johnstone, head chef at Borthwick Castle

7. Ben Boeynaems, head chef at The Zetter Hotel

8. Harry Kirkpatrick, sous chef at Trinity Restaurant

9. Karl O'Dell, head chef at Texture London

10. Nick Smith, head chef at Vacherin

Organiser of the competition and vice-president of the Craft Guild of Chefs, David Mulcahy said: 'As the biggest culinary challenge in the UK, these competitions continue to go from strength to strength providing new and exciting opportunities. Those who follow Kuba Winkowski will have seen the incredible year he is having as the title holder. This year's finalists will have to impress an inspiring list of judges including Clare Smyth, Jonny Lake, Claude Bosi, Philip Howard and Chantelle Nicholson.'

Churchill is incredibly proud to have sponsored the National Chef of the Year competition since 2010 and is delighted to support the work that goes into making it so great. One of our highlights from this year's semi final heats was the amount of chefs using colour and texture in their tableware to enhance their dishes. Our brand new walled chef's plates and Studio Prints Stone were particularly popular amongst competitors.

The final ten chefs will compete to become The National Chef of the Year on 1 October 2019 at The Restaurant show.